Ancient Death and The Afterlife
Death is a natural process that occurs to everybody, in one way or another. The afterlife is best defined as the place your soul goes after death. While seeming most plain and obvious, the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Hindus all believed different, yet similar things happened when a person passed away. Beginning with the Mesopotamians, they saw death as a sinful process. Although, the afterlife was glorious and your spirit would live on. Death for the Egyptians, however, depended on who the person was. After your fate was determined with the Chief of the Underworld, you would then be directing on to “heaven” or “hell”. The Hindus took the entire process in a series of various stages. Post-death depends on …show more content…
They believed that death was the continuing to God, the Brahaman (Firth). The Brahaman is the supreme being, also known as God. In order to reach that point, one must pass through various stages. As one breathes the last breath, their organs leave the body. Instantly, the soul, knowledge, and experience of the person goes to a new body (Firth). Then, you will be destined to a stage, as determined by your actions on earth. If you were sincerely pure, you would go to Devayana. Pitriyana for those that were ritualists and philanthropists, Hell for those that lived a hellacious and evil lifestyle and a last stage for those that exceeded the levels of hell. This procedure found in the book, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. When you first pass away, you have the sensation that you are asleep, and you never wake up (Dehejia). The afterlife, however, is comparable to a dream it is unbelievable. Which is also supported by the Bhagavad Gita (Dehejia). After your fate was decided by one of the four stages, the soul is born again into a new body and it is an awakening. The people were buried in things like the Durga Temple (Davis). Essentially, death and the afterlife was judged and determined by your actions on the real world. Some may say that the real world is the one in the afterlife, and not the one here on earth, but that is the way of Hindu
Death is a natural process that occurs to everybody, in one way or another. The afterlife is best defined as the place your soul goes after death. While seeming most plain and obvious, the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Hindus all believed different, yet similar things happened when a person passed away. Beginning with the Mesopotamians, they saw death as a sinful process. Although, the afterlife was glorious and your spirit would live on. Death for the Egyptians, however, depended on who the person was. After your fate was determined with the Chief of the Underworld, you would then be directing on to “heaven” or “hell”. The Hindus took the entire process in a series of various stages. Post-death depends on …show more content…
They believed that death was the continuing to God, the Brahaman (Firth). The Brahaman is the supreme being, also known as God. In order to reach that point, one must pass through various stages. As one breathes the last breath, their organs leave the body. Instantly, the soul, knowledge, and experience of the person goes to a new body (Firth). Then, you will be destined to a stage, as determined by your actions on earth. If you were sincerely pure, you would go to Devayana. Pitriyana for those that were ritualists and philanthropists, Hell for those that lived a hellacious and evil lifestyle and a last stage for those that exceeded the levels of hell. This procedure found in the book, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. When you first pass away, you have the sensation that you are asleep, and you never wake up (Dehejia). The afterlife, however, is comparable to a dream it is unbelievable. Which is also supported by the Bhagavad Gita (Dehejia). After your fate was decided by one of the four stages, the soul is born again into a new body and it is an awakening. The people were buried in things like the Durga Temple (Davis). Essentially, death and the afterlife was judged and determined by your actions on the real world. Some may say that the real world is the one in the afterlife, and not the one here on earth, but that is the way of Hindu